How to plant dill and care for it properly

When to plant dill

Greens begin to be sown in early spring, when the air warms up to 5 degrees. Usually in most regions, such weather comes in late March - early April. But you can plant dill until the beginning of August.

Some summer residents resort to a trick: they sow greens every 10-15 days throughout the season and get a continuous harvest.

How to prepare a bed for planting dill

Find a well-lit area - in the shade, dill grows slowly and forms weak stems. He does not like excess moisture, so do not plant this greens near plants that require frequent watering.

2–3 weeks before sowing, apply 3–4 kg of compost or rotted manure, 100–200 g of wood ash for each square meter of the bed, dig the soil onto a shovel bayonet and level the surface with a rake. Instead of organic, you can use a complex of mineral fertilizers: 1 tablespoon of superphosphate, urea and potassium sulfate per 1 m².

How to prepare dill seeds for sowing

They contain a lot of essential oils that slow down germination. You can wash the seeds by pre-soaking. Place them in a shallow container, fill with water heated to about 50 degrees, and leave for a day. After that, drain the liquid, spread the seeds in one layer on a newspaper or paper and wait until they dry to flowability.

How to plant dill

If everything is done correctly, sprouts will appear in 2-3 weeks.

Make grooves

Their depth should be 2–3 cm, and the distance between rows should be at least 20 cm. Furrows can be done in any way convenient for you garden tool. If the soil is dry, flood the holes with water and wait until it is completely absorbed.

Sow dill

The seeds of this crop are quite small, so it is problematic to lay them out in furrows, keeping a distance between future plants. Just pour them in a thin layer, cover with soil and lightly compact it with the palm of your hand. Moisten the crops with water from a watering can with a diffuser nozzle so as not to wash the soil.

Wait for shoots

Seeds need moisture to germinate. Make sure that the surface of the soil does not dry out, but do not water it to the state of a swamp. If the sprouts have sprouted very densely, you can thin them out: carefully pull out the extra shoots, leaving 1-2 cm between the plants.

How to care for dill

Greenery grows without much hassle and does not require top dressing.

Water the dill

Do this as the topsoil dries out, because dill does not like excess moisture. Water the greens between the rows early in the morning or in the evening at sunset. In the heat, you can use the "sprinkling" method - spray the bushes abundantly with water. This increases the humidity of the air, and dust is washed off the leaves of the plant. This allows them to breathe better.

Loosen and weed the beds

Dill loves light, airy soils, so once or twice a week after watering, loosen the soil in the aisles with a chopper with small teeth. So the roots will receive more oxygen. Try to remove weeds regularly so they don't take nutrients from the soil and shade the dill.

When and how to harvest dill

Greens can be eaten at all stages of growth. But when dill begins to tie buds, it becomes the most fragrant. This usually happens about 45 days after germination.

Harvesting is easy: cut the greens or just pull the plants up by the roots. If you need "umbrellas" for preservation, you will have to wait a little longer - dill seeds ripen for about 70 days.